GORE'S DILEMMA

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THE POLITICAL SCENE about Vice-President Al Gore's chances for the Presidency in the wake of the disastrous midterm elections under President Bill Clinton. The starting date for the Gore Administration was pencilled in as January, 2001, when the famously futurist pol, propelled by the momentum of a two-term Clinton reign, would lead the Democrats into the new millennium. In the second half of his term, Clinton will be dealing not only with a surly public and a Congress stuffed with Republicans but also with a weakened an alienated centrist branch of his own party--the so-called New Democrats. The New Democrats had been home turf to both Clinton and Gore. But the Administration's political choices and its style of governance appeared to be an abandonment of the New Democratic philosophy--the advocacy of a smaller, more efficient, more entrepreneurial government. Tells about Gore's history, including his father, Al Gore, Sr., a liberal Democratic senator. Tells about his "reinventing government" project, which was a hit with the public. There has been no more disaffected group than the New Democrats, who see the Clinton Presidency as a self-destructive denial of the source of his campaign success. After the election, Clinton almost immediately began emitting Old Democratic signals. Fearing a repeat of the Carter Administration's mistakes, which had resulted in the threat of a challenge from the left and no communion with Congress, the Clinton team sought to appease its traditional base on cultural matters and align itself with the Party leadership in Congress. Tells about Gore's Vietnam-era correspondence with his father on "fascist totalitarianism" and the U.S. military. He later entered the Army, served in Vietnam, and changed his mind. Last week, Gore, still digesting the midterm election disaster, said he wasn't focussing on his own political future just now. But it is clear that he believes the case for Al Gore was not decided by the rebuke of Bill Clinton on November 8th. "I would like," Gore said, "to be President one day."